The
Tmilian race of people is of an ancient stock. Some scholars are convinced
that the Tamils originated from the continent of Lemuria that was later
lost to the ocean. The Tamils were a sophisticated people in that they
developed complex social structures. Their culture possessed spiritually
sensitive art forms - prose and poetry; music; dance and drama. The
exquisite Tamil language couched the esoteric essence of its people
with intricate grammar. Some ancient literary works (6BC) place Tamils
as the first circumnavigators. Essentially the Tamils were a spiritual
people. Tamilians have practised twin form of spirituality namely Saivism
and Thirumalism until the incremental invasion of the Aryans. That is
to say, that the Tamils acquired not only the worship of icons/idols
but also the practice of offering fire sacrifices (Verlvi) as a result
of northern invasion. Sivan or Thirumal worship in its purest form meant
that the Tamils worshipped the ubiquitous Cosmic Spirit  the invisible
One without any aid of iconography. Formation of such seminal thoughts
could be traced in ancient Tamil literature including the Sitthar padalgal.
For example, a Sitthar Tamil poem sings: Natta Kallai suttriyai;
Naalu puspam sathiyai; sutri vanthu mona mona yendru sollum manthiram
yethadar; natta kallum pesumo nathan ullil erukaiyil? The mystic
through this song raises the question as to why one should worship an
inanimate object while Nathan - the indwelling Spirit /
the Master of the universe is residing within one self. The divine interiority
of each person was paramount to the Tamil mind. It is not far from the
truth to say that the Tamils have adhered to a monotheistic framework
and referred to God either as Thirumal or Sivan.

We propose that
much cultural/spiritual corruption came via the Brahmins as they conspired
to enslave the Tamils, inter alios, politically, intellectually, and
spiritually.

Corrupting Influence

Advanced civilisation
of the Tamils divided the habitable landscape into four distinct areas.
That distinction of habitation reflected their art and culture respectively.
The four separate areas were 1) Kurungee: mountainous terrain 2) Mullai:
Forest and the surrounding area 3) Marutham: Cleared area of green
site settlements 4) Naithal: Sea and dwellings along the coastline.

The cultural perception
of the ancient Tamil mind was not to separate people, as some wrongly
propagates, into castes. The system of caste entered the mindset of
the Tamils only when the Brahmins arrived at the scene. The primary
violence however, the Brahmin did to the spiritual mind of the Tamil
was to evict the Tamil language from the act of worship by surreptitiously
introducing an unknown tongue, Sanskrit as the sacred language
of the gods. This was an ideal political move on the part of the Aryans
in order they might colonise initially the Dravidian mind. They understood
the significance of capturing and occupying the mind first by promoting
a superior notion of a heavenly language. This was a convenient
arrangement to exclude the masses. Only a divinely authorised
cognitive class was enabled to pronounce the mantra and robe the role
of a go between the common worshipper and newly introduced
gods.

When someone needed
to communicate to the gods, one would now require the assistance of
the Brahmin who could articulate god language. It was a
bit like the Latin Mass! Such religious monopoly was utterly new to
the spiritually minded Tamil!

Then the secondary
assault of inferiority had its knock on effect through the belief-system
of caste consciousness. This was indeed again a very much a novel idea
to the Tamils, or for that matter to all Dravidians in the continent.

In order for the
Brahmin to be on the top of the hierarchical pyramid they were obliged
to invent the theology of Varna. Prior to delving into that, we must
note another subtle shift. It is widely believed by cultural Anthropologist
that within the spirituality of the Tamils there was found a singular
practise of agrarian offering as opposed to the later Brahmanic introduction
of animal sacrifices in the context of Verlvi/Yakam. It is further understood,
that originally, the Tamils were highly complexed in their understanding
of spirituality and in that, unlike other ancient peoples, there seem
to be no evidence of engaging in the worship of Fire nor did they ever
incorporate fire in their modes of worship. It is deliberate that their
worship of God did not spring out of fear. Human or animal sacrifice
was hardly practised among the ancient Tamils. We are reminded of the
Foundational sacrificial murder of Abel that arose within
the context of worship. This narrative is found in the book of Genesis
in the Hebrew Scripture. It is relevant to observe here that Cains
first offering to God was an agrarian sacrifice. The ancient
Tamils similarly offered to God only such sacrifice. Their
perception of God might have pictured a compassionate Supreme Being
that needed no appeasing with blood. Such peaceful spirituality must
have impacted the way they related within the community.

As the influence
of the Brahmins grew and captured the fertile imagination of the Tamil
mind their sole deity Sivan/Thirumal was subtly displaced by Brahmanism.
Owing to the Brahmanic intellectual chauvinism the Tamils were coerced
in to the idea of a pantheon of gods and began to view the Supreme as
Brahma. It was uniquely an internal religious conversion. This was a
paradigm shift in terms of indigenous belief system. By giving room
to such a minor adjustment, the thraldom of caste consciousness was
to make a cancerous impact on the minds of the Tamils. It was designed
to divide, degrade and of course rule the Tamils thereafter! Remember
however, the Brahmin occupied the next highest place to God. Such an
ingenious theological invention virtually abetted the ascendancy of
the Brahmin. It must be pointed out that the Buddha challenged the authority
of the Brahmins. He further questioned the sacrificial ritual in his
philosophy and got rid of Brahma as the Creator. By doing so, Buddha
challenged the caste-system, which is the heartbeat of the Vedic religion.

The complexion
of Varna

Varnam means colour.
The Brahmanic system of colour, put in contemporary language, would
be nothing but a system of apartheid. Some scholars, in order to preserve
the system of caste, tend to propose that the four varnas are merely
a stratification of society  a social ordering if you like. The
Brahmins like the Afrikaners masked such abominable thinking in rich
religious connotation in order to brain wash the masses. They introduced
the idea of ritualistic purity/holiness, which was totally alien to
the Tamil. The degradation of the out castes as impure was immense,
to say the least. It is inherently a warped deterministic worldview.
Thankfully the current debate on Dalit theologies knock out of joint
such colossal myths.

The genius of the
Varna was to derive the Brahmin from Brahma (God). It seems to the modern
mind as a sinister word play. Such tinkering of the minds devalues other
human persons as lower castes. Those persons who do not come into the
periphery of the caste system are demonised as outcastes and therefore,
deemed to be simply things or non-entities.

The four castes
are Brahmin; Sathriya; Vaisiya; Soothra. A religious propaganda was
advanced that God has created Brahman out of his head/face meaning that
Brahmin is the face of God to the masses (a bit like the Hebrew Moses!)
and they were the chosen priests and scribes. A little lower, Sathriya
was said to be created out of Gods shoulder. That meant they were
the warriors and aristocrats who were the strength and protection to
society. Further lower down, the Vaisiya, who was created out of Gods
thigh; meaning that these were the merchants who supported both the
Brahman and the Sathriya. On the bottom were the Soothra who was destined
to serve the above castes because they were created from the feet. This
system as it seems, on the surface, disguises its venom as the division
of labour. The toxin of such thinking works much deeper than that. The
castes were also given colour coding: White; red; gold and black. It
is no surprise that the supremacy of the Brahmin grades black to be
the colour of the poor. Such poisonous ideas were injected into the
Dravidian mind as religious thought.

Recovery

In the past, there
have been many attempts made by various Dravidian progressive political
parties and social reform movements, particularly in South India, in
order to detox society from the addiction to Brahmanic myths. It is
no easy task they found, to uproot archaic thought patterns. Once you
believe a system of dangerous lies, when its presented as a religious
idea in particular, then it becomes a near impossibility to eliminate

One begins to dream
however, in the context of the liberation struggle of the Ceylon Tamils,
such tyrannical ideas and thought patterns could be replaced in the
young minds from drawing from Tamilian root ideas and authentic spiritual
beliefs and original social values.

There are reasons
to believe that the ruling elitist Brahmins in India seem to be instinctively
threatened by the danger of the emancipatory praxis of the
Ceylon Tamils. Therefore, they will continue to undermine the quest
for liberty. We wish to advance the idea of Thamil Eelam as more than
a political entity that encompasses spiritual, social and intellectual
liberation to Tamils  who are among one of the most ancient and
culturally unique and distinct race of people on this planet.

That is the reason
why Bharathiyar sang: Thamilan Endru sollada; Thalai Nemirnthu nillada.
This is not to be interpreted as an inflated nationalistic pride. On
the contrary, it is to be viewed from an angle of redeeming Tamil consciousness
from inferiority complex. It is looked in terms of human rights: ones
intrinsic value and inherent right to determine his/her spiritual, socio-political,
cultural destiny. In the light of current liberative praxis, the tyranny
of a centuries old cyclic conspiracy is totally incompatible.

Epilogue:
The authors are clear that this article should not be misinterpreted
as a personal attack on any particular religion or on any individual
Brahmin. The whole argument is advanced against both the intellectual
tyranny and the thraldom of mind to the consciousness and the system
of caste in the name of God. This is an attempt to show the illogical
stance of such theologies and to high light the incompatibility of such
thinking not only to the modern mind but also in particular to the ancient
Tamil mind.